There are several thousand species of cockroaches in the world, but not all of them are synanthropic insects, i.e. coexisting with the person. They are one of the most ancient creatures on Earth and can live in countries with a climate from very hot to temperate, not meeting only the inhabitants of the North Pole.
It's hard to even say what cockroaches are afraid of. After all, these insects survived the dinosaurs, practically without changing their appearance, and in the modern world they can survive at a level of radiation exposure ten times greater than a person can bear.
In European countries, predominantly black and red species live. These insects have an organism well adapted to a parasitic lifestyle: thanks to their flattened shape, they can penetrate into the smallest cracks, several pairs of legs allow them to run very quickly, they can exist for almost a month without food and about a week without water, in addition, they are unusually prolific.
Even one cockroach seen indoors is an indicator that his whole family lives somewhere nearby, since they live in colonies.At the same time, each individual leaves a scent trail behind it, so that others can easily find it.
Cockroaches are so common in the modern world and have become so firmly established in our lives that many people experience real fear when they meet them, which is scientifically called blattophobia (fear of cockroaches). Like other phobias, it is most often the result of a severe fright in childhood.
A scary movie or a loved one's violent backlash against these insects or their own traumatic experience lays the groundwork for why some people fear cockroaches as adults.
Strong blatophobia has to be treated with professional psychotherapeutic methods, for example, with the help of hypnosis. Neuro-Linguistic Programming is also effective in helping you stop being afraid of cockroaches. The fear of cockroaches, from this point of view, is a manifestation of certain models created by the person himself, but at the same time not working very well. With the help of various techniques, these models are changed so that blatophobia begins to recede and eventually disappear altogether.
Although cockroaches are associated with dirt and waste, they can appear in an apartment where cleanliness is maintained. On their paws, a nasty guest can carry dangerous bacteria and worm eggs, which is especially dangerous when there are small children in the house, pulling everything into their mouths. Chitinous covers shed during the molting period and various secretions of these insects can cause allergies up to asthmatic attacks. Moving inside household appliances or in an electrical outlet, cockroaches can cause a short circuit. All these factors force people to get rid of unwanted neighbors as soon as possible.
We fight cockroaches with folk methods
In an apartment, cockroaches prefer to live close to sources of water (leaking pipes, sewer drains) and food. An ideal place that combines both conditions is the kitchen. True, during the day an insect in the kitchen is rarely seen (except for very dirty dwellings), from which the logical conclusion follows that cockroaches are afraid of light.
In addition, even when the lamps are turned on at night, they quickly scatter. In fact, you need to figure out why cockroaches are afraid of light sources. Like many other living creatures, these insects lead a more active life at night, hiding in various crevices during the day. At night, the sharp switching on of the lamp, accompanied by human footsteps, signals to cockroaches that danger is close, and makes them quickly run away from such a place.
- Among the traditional means of combating these parasites, the most popular (excluding indoor slippers) is boric acid powder rolled into some kind of food product, for example, dough or boiled potatoes. The advantage of this method is its absolute harmlessness to humans. And the main disadvantage is that the agent acts rather slowly, and in order to kill cockroaches, they must directly come into contact with the agent, so eggs already laid somewhere behind the plinth can continue to develop calmly. The carried out wet cleaning eliminates all efforts aimed at the destruction of these insects.
- Another slightly forgotten way to get rid of cockroaches in Russia was to chill the room.The method is quite effective, since they do not tolerate cold, and specifically, frost, but hardly anyone today dares to leave a city apartment open in severe frost even for the sake of destroying these parasites.
- There is an opinion that cockroaches are afraid of the smell of ammonia, and therefore it is worth adding it to the water for mopping. It is difficult to say what effect this method will have on cockroaches, since there is hardly a woman who wants to inhale the aroma of ammonia while mopping, not to mention the fact that during this procedure, the bottle with the product must first be opened and poured into water.
- Of the other folk methods, the smells and aromatic oils of some plants, such as cedar, eucalyptus, and red elderberry, are quite effective in repelling cockroaches. You can use them in aroma lamps, or distribute them with a spray bottle around the kitchen.
- Also, cockroaches are afraid of the smells of herbs: mint, anise. The disadvantages include the fact that these aromas will not destroy already existing cockroaches.
And further: Good old Karbofos poisons cockroaches with a bang - watch our video ...
Impact on cockroaches with industrial preparations
For a long time, chemists have tried to determine what smells cockroaches are afraid of, and use this in industrial development. The chemical method today is the most effective way to get rid of various insects in the house. The most common insecticides are in the form of aerosols, gels, crayons, and poison traps.
A remedy for cockroaches in the form of an ordinary chalk or pencil of the "Masha" type, based on a nerve-paralytic effect, is quite common.It cannot be said that it has a powerful effect, but it can prevent the spread of insects with medium and small numbers.
Aerosol insecticides are fast acting and easy to use. On the other hand, they have practically no aftereffect on the remaining cockroaches, and poisonous vapors of the product can also harm a person, penetrate the ventilation system into other dwellings of an apartment building.
The well-known Dichlorvos aerosol has a wide scope, but today more effective and at the same time relatively safe insecticides based on pyrethroids have appeared. So, the substance neopin is low toxic for warm-blooded animals, but when applied to various surfaces it causes anxiety in cockroaches, forcing them to run out of shelters and die.
The composition of the gels of the "Global" type, in addition to the insecticide itself, includes a fatty base to prevent rapid drying, food flavors (attractants) to attract insects to the smell, and some auxiliary substances.Such gels are easy to use, do not have a pronounced toxic effect on humans, because they are based on the intestinal-contact effect on insects when they eat the product.
One of the most convenient and safest forms of insecticides are poison traps. Sunflower oil, honey, synthetic flavors can be used as attractants. Special industrial-made houses with a sticky coating for catching cockroaches are quite popular among the people, while the use of traps with beer or other foodstuffs and greased edges, as a rule, has little effect in destroying them.
Consequences of the use of insecticides in a residential area.
When the goal is the complete destruction of cockroaches in the house, the owners are occupied with the main question: what are they most afraid of. At the same time, they often try to use any chemical means to get rid of insects.
And further: Do not write off the chalk from cockroaches Masha - it really works, we checked it during the experiment ...
But it is worth remembering that the highly active chemicals contained in insecticides can affect not only insects, but also the health of the person himself, especially with direct contact with them.
Toxic fumes can lead to a weakened immune system and the development of new or exacerbation of chronic diseases. The use of aerosol and gel forms of insecticides is especially dangerous if there are small children or pets in the house who can inadvertently eat poison intended for insects.Since the mass of a pet is usually small, there is an increased likelihood of health problems after an increased fight with cockroaches.
Prevention of the appearance of cockroaches in the house
Even after completely getting rid of uninvited guests, simple rules must be followed to prevent their new visits. You will have to close up all the cracks and cracks through which nasty insects can enter the house, and treat these cracks with boric acid powder or insecticidal chalk. In addition, there should be a fine mesh on the ventilation holes. At night, be sure to wipe the surface of the bathroom and kitchen sink dry, water houseplants in the morning, and not at night, fix dripping taps and leaking pipes, depriving cockroaches of access to water.
All food that is outside the refrigerator should be stored in tightly sealed jars or resealable bags so that food odors do not remain. Cupboards and the area of the trash can should be regularly wiped with detergents, try to get rid of food waste regularly.
And if everything is done correctly, then cockroaches are unlikely to find your house a suitable home for themselves.
Why sometimes you can’t cope with cockroaches in an apartment
An interesting way to get rid of cockroaches in the apartment
I have the same problem, they started up suddenly and quickly. I ordered 2 devices via the Internet (riddex). They said that after 1.5 weeks the cockroaches would leave. I plugged it in, the night passed, and the next day they both stopped working at all! So if you do not want to waste your money, then do not get fooled by this device!
I totally agree with you Elena!
How to deal with cockroaches?
Gel "Brownie" helps well.
Unfortunately, nothing helped us - neither Dichlorvos nor Globol. I won’t say that there are a lot of cockroaches, we rarely see them, sometimes for several days I don’t see a single one. We don't know how to get rid of it. They appeared in the middle of summer, before that we lived in different apartments, we had not seen them for at least 20 years.
We have the same situation - an apartment building, in the summer I noticed a cockroach, killed it, I didn’t meet it at all for a month or two. Then again one settled in the closet, the female, because the egg found an empty one. And slammed her. Then I saw another, in short, called the exterminator. He said that they were “guests”, they do not live with us. A month and a half later, these "guests" appeared again. Just one or two, then a week I can not see, not meet.
I couldn’t sleep last night, I went into the kitchen - my friend is sitting. Killed, missed the pregnant cockroach that same morning. I don’t know what to do with them - they bought gels, crayons, and aerosols, but to no avail.I somehow treated the whole apartment with dichlorvos, I almost died myself, it lasted for a week. They roam all over the house, from apartment to apartment. In the garbage chamber they poison - they scatter to their homes. I called and asked the neighbors - everything is the same ...
I remove them, but then from the neighbors, most likely, they come running again.
Boric acid, egg yolk, unrefined oil (with a smell) - and that's it!